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Back to Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund News – Issue 17

Deal Round Up

As the year comes to a close, we’ve gathered some of this quarter’s deals which demonstrate how transformational access to finance can be for a business looking to fulfil its growth goals.

From making brownies in a bottle, to opening up new stores, investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund delivers equity, debt, and microfinance options to companies of all ages and size across all sectors in the North of England.

Bottled Baking Company – Leeds

Starting with just his son in the kitchen, Greg Fraser set up the Leeds-based Bottled Baking Company after recognising the difficulties in assembling and weighing all the different ingredients when baking. With its popularity soaring and major retailers placing orders, Greg secured a £250,000 loan from NPIF – Mercia Debt Finance to meet demand and create four new jobs.

Leaf One – Knowsley

Based in Knowsley, LeafOne secured a £90,000 investment from NPIF – River & GC Microfinance. The cloud-based solutions provider helps companies quickly sample test products, completing close to 5 million tests and obtaining 549,200 certificates for its clients. The new investment will create jobs and support its product development.

Sales Fire – Middlesbrough

A software firm that helps e-commerce stores drive sales raised £2m from NPIF – Mercia Equity Finance as part of a £2.25m funding round. Enabling companies to optimise conversion rates, Salesfire used the funding to add more AI-powered features to its platform and double the size of its team, creating nearly 50 new jobs in the Tees Valley.

Sterling Meat Company – Manchester

Manchester based Sterling Meat Company rolled out two new Sterling Food to Go Stores and created 20 jobs as a result of a £500,000 investment from NPIF – FW Capital Debt Finance. The investment fulfils its plans to scale its North of England customer base, delivering a quality range of fresh meats, frozen food and ready to eat pies and sandwiches at six locations across the North and Midlands.

Good with Devices  – Sheffield

Sheffield-based Good With Devices (GWD) is a customer-oriented developer and seller of Donation Stations and Discovery Stations that facilitate contactless charitable donations. A £750,000 investment from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance will be used to support the expansion of the business’ Donation Stations being developed and implemented across the charities, arts, heritage, and corporate venues.

Red Button Marketing  – Darlington

Launched by Darlington-based businesswoman, Margaret Bradshaw, Red Button Marketing was able to bring its bespoke subscription-based marketing online planning product to market through a £50,000 investment from NPIF – BEF & FFE Microfinance. The tool helps create a digital workspace to ensure SMEs marketing programmes are managed efficiently.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

Editors Notes